Recent decisions by the Spanish national competition authority (TDC) mandate payment systems to include only two costs when setting their domestic multilateral interchange fees (MIF): a fixed processing cost and a variable cost for the risk of fraud. This artificial lowering of MIFs will not...

Electronic money (e-money), as a network good, could become an important form of currency in the future. Such a development could affect monetary policy effectiveness. If an increased use of e-money substantially limits the demand for central bank reserves, this limitation would require changes...

This paper evaluates key findings of the Financial System Stability Assessment for Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), including Reports on the Observance of Standards and Codes on Banking Supervision, Securities Regulation, Insurance Supervision, Payment Systems, Securities...

Central bank collateral policies came under pressure with the 2007-08 financial market crisis. This paper addresses the rationale for and constraints in taking collateral, and recent practices in different collateral frameworks. It then considers the risks of adverse selection. The paper...

This paper presents a theoretical framework for analyzing pricing structures in debit card schemes featuring cardholders, retailers, their respective banks, and a network routing switch. The network routing switch controls the electronic debit card network and is jointly owned by the banks. In...

This Selected Issues paper describes the three phases of IMF engagement in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) with a view to drawing lessons that could prove useful in identifying objectives and policies for a medium-term program that could be supported through a successor Poverty Reduction...

Improved liquidity and capital adequacy have increased the Uruguayan banking system’s capacity to withstand shocks. However, macroeconomic and financial risks remain owing to the high level of government debt, guarantees to state banks, high dollarization, and a high share of nonresident...

This paper presents an update to the Financial System Stability Assessment on Sri Lanka. The paper discusses that despite a challenging macroeconomic environment characterized by a high fiscal deficit, inflationary pressures, and a widening current account, near-term risks to the financial...

This paper discusses key findings of the Detailed Assessment of the Core Principles for Systemically Important Payment Systems for Denmark. The main counterparties for the assessment were Danmarks Nationalbank and the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority Finanstilsynet. The assessment...

This Financial System Stability Assessment on Turkey discusses macroeconomic development and trend in the financial system. The financial system does not appear to face major immediate threats, but vulnerabilities remain. Turkey remains dependent on capital inflows and thus on international...